The Week Ahead 07 – 13 December 2020

European Council. EP President David Sassoli will address heads of state or government at the EU summit to set out Parliament’s position on the EU’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and Turkey, among the topics to be discussed with EU leaders. The President will then hold a press conference at 14:30 (Thursday).

COVID-19/Vaccine. MEPs from the Environment, Public Health and Food Security Committee will discuss the state of play on assessing and authorising vaccines against COVID-19 with the Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Emer Cooke (Thursday).

E-privacy/child abuse. The Civil Liberties Committee will vote to amend the current EU e-privacy rules in order to allow voice over IP, messaging and web-based e-mail services to continue detecting content and traffic data in relation to child sexual abuse (Monday).

Artificial Intelligence: military and civil use. The Legal Affairs Committee will vote on guidelines for military use of AI (including lethal autonomous weapons systems), non-military use in health and justice areas as well as AI threats to democracy and rule of law (Monday).

Legislative negotiations. MEPs from several committees will continue negotiating with the EU Council Presidency on a number of legislative files, including MFF-related programmes. The Just Transition Fund, Asylum and Migration Fund, the Instrument for financial support for border management and visa, Recovery and Resilience Facility, Erasmus+ and LIFE+ are among the files that look close to a deal.

Plenary preparations. Political groups will follow the December European Council meeting focusing on the UK, Turkey and on the EU long-term budget closely, and prepare for the plenary debate with Council and Commission presidents. Furthermore, they will discuss votes on support for immediate recovery for COVID-19-stricken regions (ReactEU), on drinking water quality and on a new strategy for European SMEs as well as vocational education and training. MEPs will also prepare debates on the latest developments on the Eastern partnership, the trade-related impact of third-country sanctions, and on the European Citizens’ Initiative calling for a Minority SafePack to improve the protection of people belonging to national and linguistic minorities.

Webinar/Digital Services Act. Key MEPs will participate in a webinar for journalists, organised by the EP Media Directorate, on “Digital Services Act: The European Parliament’s priorities” on Tuesday 10.30 -11.30. The Commission is set to present the proposal on 15 December.

President’s diary. EP President David Sassoli will meet with Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya, and have a remote meeting with UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, on Tuesday.